When you look at January median sales prices year over year it looks like a steady climb. January 2020 median sales price of $270,000 was 4.2% over January 2019.
But that doesn’t mean every month is higher than the last. Prices still have an annual arc of rising prices heading into spring and falling prices heading into winter.
The chart of monthly median sales prices shows that this January actually had the lowest year-over-year increase of the last 12 months. The annualized median sales price increase was 5.7%.
New listings were 1.8% behind last January, while pending sales were 1.2% ahead of last year and January 2020 closed sales were 5.4% ahead of January 2019.
With an increase in sales and a decrease in new listings it should come as no surprise that the total number of homes for sale decreased by 14.9% to a new low of 7,595 units. Percent of list price received was 97.0% and average days on market before pending was 66.
Perhaps the best measure of homes available for sale is told by months supply of inventory, which takes into account both the number of homes for sale and the rate at which they are selling. 5-6 months supply is considered balanced between buyers and sellers.
It continues to be a strong buyer’s market, with an overall supply of only 1.5 months. Townhome supply is lowest at 1.1 months.
Breaking out the months supply of homes by price range is even more telling. Homes in the $150k-$250k are scarcest with less than a month supply, but it remains a buyer’s market all the way up $1M+.
Low interest rates, low unemployment and rising rents all continue to fuel buyer demand. The only missing piece for a robust real estate market is a larger supply of homes for sale.
The data in this post comes from statistics released by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. Never forget that all real estate is local and what is happening in your neighborhood may be very different from the overall metro area.
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Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – shensrud@homesmsp.com
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